Kristine M. Ball Joins Relypsa as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Santa Clara, CA, December 10, 2012 – Relypsa, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today the appointment of Kristine M. Ball to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. She will be responsible for overseeing Relypsa's finance, accounting and investor relations functions.
"It is with great pleasure that we welcome Kristine to Relypsa during this important time in the company's evolution," stated Gerrit Klaerner, Ph.D., President of Relypsa. "The next 18 months will be an exciting time for Relypsa filled with many key value driving milestones, including completion of our phase 3 clinical program for patiromer and filing a New Drug Application with the FDA shortly thereafter. With Kristine's extensive strategic and financial experience, she will bring additional strength and leadership to our management team as we drive towards these milestones and progress toward becoming a commercial company."
Ms. Ball brings almost 20 years' experience in the life sciences industry in both in-house and public accounting roles and has extensive experience in finance, strategy and operations. Most recently, Ms. Ball was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of KAI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a venture backed drug discovery company acquired by Amgen, Inc. for $315 million. At KAI she was responsible for finance, administration and strategic planning, led a $35 million round of venture financing and was a key member of the deal teams responsible for two pharmaceutical partnerships and the Amgen acquisition. Prior to KAI, Ms. Ball served as Vice President of Finance at Exelixis, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, where she was involved in four acquisitions and in raising over $360 million through the company's initial public offering and other financings. Prior to Exelixis, Ms. Ball was a senior manager in Ernst & Young's life sciences audit practice. Ms. Ball is a certified public accountant and holds a BS in accounting from Babson College.
About Patiromer and Hyperkalemia
Hyperkalemia is a condition frequently prevalent in patients that suffer from renal impairment, hypertension, diabetes and/or heart failure. It is characterized by elevated serum potassium levels, which can lead to cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Patients with chronic kidney disease are at particular risk for developing hyperkalemia, especially those treated with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) inhibitors. Although RAAS inhibition has been shown to protect kidney and cardiac function, as well as prolong life, many patients who could benefit from RAAS inhibitors are untreated or undertreated due to the undesirable side effect of increasing serum potassium.
Patiromer (RLY5016) is a high capacity non-absorbed oral potassium binder being developed for the management of elevated serum potassium levels. Relypsa has completed several clinical trials of patiromer that have demonstrated the preliminary efficacy, safety and tolerability of patiromer for the treatment of hyperkalemia.
About Relypsa, Inc.
Relypsa, Inc. is a late clinical-stage pharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of novel non-absorbed polymeric drugs for important applications in cardiovascular and renal diseases. Relypsa's lead product candidate is patiromer, a non-absorbed potassium binder for the treatment of hyperkalemia. Relypsa is pursuing the discovery of additional product candidates through use of its proprietary polymer platform. More information is available at www.relypsa.com.
CONTACT: Relypsa, Inc.
Kristine Ball, SVP, Chief Financial Officer
PR "at" relypsa.com